Medieval Times

William the Conqueror invades England

Sep 27, 1066

William built a large fleet and invaded England in September 1066, decisively defeating and killing Harold at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066.

Paper is First Mass Produce in Spain

Sep 27, 1150

The Muslim conquest of Spain brought paper making into Europe. The English word "ream" (meaning 500 sheets) is derived through Spanish and French from the Arabic word rizmah that translates as "a bundle". Both Spain and Italy claim to be the first to manufacture paper in Europe.

Magna Carta

Sep 27, 1215

Magna Carta Libertatum, commonly called Magna Carta, is a charter agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215.

End of the Crusades

Sep 27, 1270

The crusading movement came to an end by the close of the thirteenth century. After two centuries the old crusading enthusiasm died out, the old ideal of the crusade as "the way of God" lost its spell.

The Plague

Sep 27, 1348

The Black Death was an epidemic of bubonic plague, a disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis that circulates among wild rodents where they live in great numbers and density. The Black Death or Black Plague was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people and peaking in Europe in the years 1346–53.

First appearance of Robin Hood in literature

Sep 27, 1378

The opening quote from Langland’s Piers Plowman (c. 1377) is Robin’s first appearance in a text, be it literary or historical, and it is not a shining reference. The first literary references to Robin Hood appear in a series of 14th- and 15th-century ballads about a violent yeoman who lived in Sherwood Forest with his men and frequently clashed with the Sheriff of Nottingham.

Chaucer writes The Canterbury Tales

Sep 27, 1387

Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales, a collection of stories in a frame story, between 1387 and 1400. It is the story of a group of thirty people who travel as pilgrims to Canterbury (England). The pilgrims, who come from all layers of society, tell stories to each other to kill time while they travel to Canterbury.

War of the Roses

Sep 27, 1455

The Wars of the Roses were a series of wars for control of the throne of England. They were fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet, those of Lancaster and York. They were fought in several sporadic episodes between 1455 and 1487, although there was related fighting before and after this period

First printing of Le Morte d’Arthur

Sep 27, 1485

It was during this second imprisonment, in London’s Newgate Prison, that Malory began occupying his time in writing the work he called “the whole book of King Arthur and his noble knights of the Round Table”. Malory’s book was re-titled Le Morte Darthur by William Caxton who produced the first printed edition in 1485.

First Tudor king, Henry VII, is crowned

Sep 27, 1485

Henry VII, known before accession as Henry Tudor, 2nd Earl of Richmond, was King of England after seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death, the first monarch of the House of Tudor.